Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences

       TO:     Members  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  &  Sciences    FROM:     Barbara  A.  Schaal    RE:     Faculty  Meeting     Friday,  February  26,  2016     4:00-­‐5:00  p.m.  

Wilson  Hall,  Room  214    Refreshments  will  be  available  in  Room  212  at  3:30  p.m.  

   

Agenda  

 

1. Approval  of  November  13,  2015  Minutes  

2. Arts  &  Sciences  Updates  –  Barbara  Schaal,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  &  Sciences  

3. Committee  Nominees  –  Bret  Gustafson,  Arts  &  Sciences  Faculty  Council  Co-­‐Chair  

4. Curriculum  Committee  Report  and  Vote  –  Todd  Decker,  Arts  &  Sciences  Curriculum  Committee  Chair  

a. Course  changes  as  approved  by  Curriculum  Committee  

b.  Proposal  for  Social  Contrasts  designation  

5. Deans’  Reports  

a. College  of  Arts  &  Sciences  –  Jennifer  Smith,  Dean  of  the  College  of  Arts  &  Sciences  

b. Graduate  School  of  Arts  &  Sciences  –  William  Tate,  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School  

c. University  College  –  Steve  Ehrlich,  Interim  Dean  of  University  College  

6. Other  Business  

Attachments:  

• Minutes  of  November  13,  2015  Faculty  Meeting  

• Course  changes  as  approved  by  Curriculum  Committee  

• Social  Contrasts  designation  proposal    

Faculty of Arts & Sciences

13 November 2015 Meeting

The meeting came to order at 4:05 P.M.

A motion to approve the minutes of the 30 September 2015 meeting passed.

Report from the Dean of Arts & Sciences

Dean Schaal reported on the searches currently undertaken by the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and

the University, including for new deans of admissions and of the School of Social Work. The

Program in African and African-American Studies is looking for a new director, while the

former Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies has become a department.

Environmental Studies will begin a new inter-school Ph.D. program, as well as a first-year

undergraduate program in environmental leadership.

A new Dean of the Medical School will start on 1 December 2015.

Work has begun renovating space in Seigle Hall for the Department of Sociology. The planning

phase of the Bryant Hall project has begun. Renovation of Olin Library will begin in 2016 and

continue through 2018. New buildings will go up at the east end of campus, in a project

publicized in the Record.

Introduction of Dr. Lori White, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Dr. White introduced her areas of responsibility, including but not limited to residential life,

student health, athletics, student support, the first-year center, student groups, the Career Center,

the Dean of Students office, the Office for International Students and Scholars, scholarship

programs, and student conduct.

She spoke of reasons students give for choosing to attend WU, and of national challenges in

student affairs. These include sexual assault prevention, Title IX compliance, mental health,

substance abuse prevention, access and support for first-generation and Pell Grant students,

campus climates and the support of diversity and inclusion, and preparing students for life after

college.

Dr. White told faculty that WU students reported in recent survey that they believed that the

university would take reports of sexual assault seriously. She also reported that demand for

mental health services outruns supply, and asked for faculty help in identifying students who

need support.

Dr. White will hold a meeting of students and others on Monday, 16 November to discuss events

at the University of Missouri.

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13 November 2015 Meeting

Dr. White’s first major initiative involves the appointment of a strategic planning committee to

guide the work of Student Affairs in next five years. Dean Jennifer Smith will chair this

committee. The last time a similarly charged committee met was in 2008. Dr. White mentioned

the need to support and enhance grad student life on campus as one of her strategic planning

goals.

Professor Rafia Zafar asked what specific programs already exist or will be created to support

students with Pell Grants. Dr. White mentioned the need for good communication with these

students and their parents. The university may create summer programs, getting students on

campus and exposing them to college-level classes early. It will also put in place more intrusive

advising, and take a holistic view of students’ individual finances.

Report from the Arts & Sciences Faculty Council

Professor Catherine Keane, co-chair, thanked faculty for response to the proposed policy on

discrimination and harassment. The Council has forwarded responses to the Faculty Senate

Council. Professor Keane thanked the WU chapter of the AAUP for its work in drafting a formal

response and suggestions for amendments.

The Council has no update on the discussion, still ongoing, of the Professor of the Practice rank.

The Council will soon solicit faculty to run for election to standing committees.

Professor Andrea Friedman asked for clarification on documents sent out about the

Discrimination and Harassment Hearing Committee. Professor Keane replied that these are still

the only drafts circulated, and that the Faculty Senate Council has not yet made any other

revision available. When one becomes available, the Arts & Sciences Faculty Council will send

it to faculty.

Report from the Online Education Working Group

Professor Michael Sherberg reported that the Provost convened this group to represent all

schools at the university. The various schools have chosen to move forward in online education

at different speeds.

The Working Group initially addressed the University’s relationship with Coursera, which is not

yet finalized, and depends on response from the faculty. The Working Group sees no real

disadvantage to working with Coursera. Classes offered under this arrangement would not count

for credit for WU undergraduates. The Working Group feels that Coursera classes would offer

some advantage in marketing of the faculty and the university. Faculty offering Coursera classes

would teach them as unpaid overloads.

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13 November 2015 Meeting

Professor Nancy Berg and Dean Steven Ehrlich are also members of the Working Group, and

invite comments from faculty.

Professor Sherberg stated that the problem of handling the transfer of credits for Arts &

Sciences students taking classes in other WU schools with substantial on-line components will

go to the Curriculum Committee.

Professor Sherberg noted that issues remain unaddressed in measuring the efficacy of online

courses.

Professor Peter Kastor asked when and if faculty would receive additional details on Coursera,

especially regarding how the administration would select faculty to offer courses with it, and

what impact it would have on faculty members’ intellectual property rights. Prof. Kastor asked

how faculty could have an opinion on an agreement with Coursera without knowing the details.

Professor Sherberg replied that the Working Group would get the answers to these questions and

provide them to the faculty.

Professor Matthew Erlin asked how the College of Arts & Sciences currently transfers credit for

classes taken by its students in other WU schools, in cases that do not involve substantial online

coursework. Dean Jennifer Smith replied that Arts & Sciences students may take up to 30 credits

from other WU schools. The College of Arts & Sciences currently does not discriminate among

those courses, and merely accepts the credits as determined by the other WU schools concerned.

Report from the Curriculum Committee

Professor Peter Benson, reporting for the Curriculum Committee, moved to approve course

changes as previously circulated. The motion received a second and passed.

Professor Wolfram Schmidgen asked for clarification about the rejection by the Committee of

the department’s proposal of a journalism concentration. Professor Benson replied that the

Committee rejected the proposal because members felt that it reflected excessively the interests

of University College rather than of the English Department: the concentration specified three

courses from U. College, rather than the current maximum of two that Arts & Sciences students

may take. The Committee felt that if the university wished to fund the study of journalism, it

could find other ways to do so, and that approval of the proposal would set a bad precedent.

Dean Steven Ehrlich said that follow-up conversations have been useful. U. College serves a

purpose for day students, but would create ways of putting this into practice in the future, in a

manner more comfortable for the College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Benson added that the

Curriculum Committee did not intend its rejection of the journalism concentration as a statement

about U. College.

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13 November 2015 Meeting

Professor Schmidgen asked whether Curriculum Committee recommendations constituted final

decisions, or recommendations only. Dean Schaal said that it might prove useful to include with

the Curriculum Committee’s reports information about rejected proposals.

Report from the College of Arts & Sciences

Dean Jennifer Smith presented a motion to approve the list of December degree candidates. The

motion received a second and passed.

Dean Smith reported that first-year students have completed their registration for next semester.

Report from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Dean William Tate reported that he will complete his meetings with representatives of

departments next week. The new schedule of these meetings will not change the schedule on

which his office will deliver information to programs about the size of their authorized incoming

class for next year.

The December meeting of the university’s Board of Trustees will discuss graduate education.

Dean Tate said he had no present insight regarding what the Trustees may discuss.

When arranging activities for visiting prospective students, Directors of Graduate Studies may

wish to include tours of Quadrangle Housing’s apartments.

Report from University College

Interim Dean Steven Ehrlich reported that the certificate in forensic psychology is doing well,

and that U. College has created new tracks in the masters program in biology and psychology. It

will soon refresh the program in communications.

The prison education program overseen by U. College will hire an academic adviser.

U. College has been working with Launch Code on a new program to begin in January 2016.

U. College has created new advisory boards for its programs in human resource management and

non-profit management. The college now offers some of its programs fully online.

Following this report, Dean Schaal asked if the faculty had any new business, and faculty

advanced none. The meeting adjourned at 4:55 P.M.

Minutes prepared by Seth Graebner,

Secretary to the Faculty of Arts & Sciences

February 17, 2016 RE: Approved A&S courses Proposed Social Contrasts designation Dear A&S Faculty, The A&S Curriculum Committee will offer two proposals at the February 26, 2016 faculty meeting. First, we will offer our regular list of curricular changes that have been reviewed and approved by the Committee since the last A&S faculty meeting. Please find an attachment listing these recommended new curricular offerings. Second, we will propose that the current Social Differentiation (SD) designation be replaced with a new designation called Social Contrasts (SC). This proposal (including background, description, and implementation) is attached as well. We look forward to your comments and hope to bring this proposal to a vote at the meeting. On Behalf of the A&S Curriculum Committee, Todd Decker Associate Professor and Chair, Music Chair, ArtSci Curriculum Committee 2015-2016

Proposal to replace the current Social Differentiation (SD) designation with a new designation called Social Contrasts (SC)

ArtSci Curriculum Committee February 17, 2016

Background In spring 2015, the Curriculum Committee was charged with reconsidering the Social Differentiation (SD) curriculum attribute as part of larger campus efforts to directly address questions of diversity and difference. In approving SD courses, the Committee has noted a certain degree of imprecision and “drift.” We also agreed that the SD description as to content—“at least half the course must explicitly address topics of race, ethnicity, class, or gender”—needed revision. To that end, the Committee recommends replacing the Social Differentiation designation with a new, reformulated designation called Social Contrasts (SC). In this proposal, we have endeavored to clarify the designation both for faculty designing courses and to foreground the intent of the designation for students enrolling in and taking these courses. A description of the new designation appears below. Description of the Social Contrasts Designation Courses with the Social Contrasts designation help students think critically about the ways in which societies are organized, coordinated, or divided. These courses have a major topical focus on understanding how social categories are created and their impact on individuals, groups, and societies. SC courses focus on social categories such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, ability status, or other categories. SC courses also may explore the intersection of social categories (e.g., a course on the role of Native American women, a course that explores deaf culture in the LGBT community). SC courses may focus on any region of the world, as long as their primary emphasis is on exploring the formation, maintenance, or impact of social categories within that region. For example, a course that explores the caste system in East Indian nations would likely be eligible for the SC designation. By contrast, a course that introduces a region of the world or culture but does not have its primary focus on explicating social categories would be eligible for an LCD designation, but not a SC designation. A course that focuses on both goals (e.g., a course on the social and political facets of sexual orientation in contemporary African nations) would be eligible for both designations. Finally, SC courses may focus on any time in history, again, as long as their major focus is on exploring the formation, maintenance, and impact of social categories within or across historical epochs. A course that highlights the musical accomplishments of female vocalists in the early

20th century would not be an SC course, but one that explored how being a female vocalist in the early 20th century was complicated by social expectations would. Implementation For new courses, a Social Contrasts proposal form (submitted with the course) will ask instructors to articulate the specific goals of the course as they pertain to teaching students about social categories. Moreover, the proposal should be specific about how the instructor, the course materials, and assignments will accomplish that goal. It should be very clear from the course title that social categories are a major topical focus of the class. Similarly, course descriptions (intended for the course catalog) should be explicit and specific in addressing how the content and methods of the course are consistent with the goal of introducing students to key concepts in understanding social categories. Inclusion of keywords in both title and description are encouraged. Regarding existing SD courses, some may fulfill the SC aspirations, while others may not. In cases where this fulfillment is not readily apparent, instructors will be asked to submit their course description along with the new SC proposal form. The Curriculum Committee will review these courses and provide feedback to instructors. If needed, the College Registrar will work with the committee and departments to facilitate course name changes for existing course numbers.